From filmmaker Kami Chisholm:
I am an independent, DIY filmmaker who primarily produces noncommercial, social justice themed documentary and experimental films. Due to the nature of my work, I frequently struggle to raise even the very modest funds necessary to complete my films.
Here are the projects I am currently working on:
White Skins, White Masks
Essay documentary | Expected completion: 2018
White Skin, White Masks is a feature-length documentary film about whiteness: the imagery and imaginary of whiteness as well as the psychic life of whiteness. White Skin, White Masks builds on the writings of colonial psychiatrist Frantz Fanon and uses a mixture of original footage, archival film & video, and voice over to analyze the psychic life of whiteness through the imagery and imaginary of white supremacy as it is captured in through visual technologies (from amateur film and video to Hollywood cinema). My hope is that this project will encourage both students and wider audiences to think more deeply about race, racism, and white supremacy in our everyday lives.
*** This film is an adaption of director Kami Chisholm’s PhD dissertation: The Transmission of Trauma: Psychoanalysis, Race, and Technologies of Cultural Fantasy (University of California, 2007).
Bullies
Documentary | Expected completion: 2018
In June 2016, queer and trans activists from Black Lives Matter – Toronto staged a sit-in at the Toronto Pride Parade, making nine demands designed to combat racism at the annual LGBT festival, one of which was to remove the institution of the police force from official participation. Almost immediately, BLM activists were accosted with an onslaught of criticism and harassment from LGBT (and non-LGBT)individuals, organizations, politicians, and the media who continue to label BLM with a range of derogatory slurs, from calling the group irrelevant and a joke to terrorists. Documenting the racialized discourses throughout the year following the BLM sit-in, Bullies traces the racism that continues to divide Toronto’s diverse communities.
Citizen
Citizen is an upcoming documentary film that begins with the question: why do nations routinely restrict access to ostensibly “universal” human rights to citizens only? Following this query, Citizen interrogates the ways in which human rights are constructed through the regulation of citizenship and the enforcement of borders to deny many disparate groups of people the ability to live and thrive. From migrant justice organizing to the fight to end immigrant detentions to Indigenous activism against intrusions on unceded land, Citizen traces sites of struggle against state structures that frequently deny the freedom of movement, the right to self-determination, and access to fundamental necessities of life for many across Canada and the US.
I would greatly appreciate your help in finishing these projects. There are lots of ways to support:
- Donate to the White Skin, White Masks Kickstarter
- Purchasing advance copies of the above upcoming films
- Donate to fund the post-production of upcoming films
- Purchase already completed films
- Write essays, reviews, or profiles of previous or upcoming films (contact me to arrange for viewings)
- Share this page on your social media!
Thank you so much, and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
